Hello, Dragon! What have you got for me?

I’ve read conflicting reports, but I have faith in what my feng shui guide, my fortune guru, my career adviser, my friend, and my confidante, the late Princess Lim Fernandez, who knew my personal chart like the back of her hand, told me in our very last session that for the next many years I’d be in good hands. At least, for her brother Patrick Lim Fernandez, who is now at the helm of the Yin & Shop of Harmony, headquartered at the New World Makati, little Monkey me is very lucky in the Year of the Wood Dragon, with the Accomplishment Star shining bright upon me, as long as I make a point of making each accomplishment a motivation to do even better rather than to rest on my laurels. Got it, will do!

The Year of the Dragon, which begins today, is really the time to shine for any sign. As loudly as we holler “Kung hei fat choy”—really a command, which roughly translates to “Be prosperous!”—at each other, we should also ask each other, “What have you got? Show me what you got!”

Make this year a showcase of your talent, your abilities, your intelligence, your hard work, anything you are really good at. That was exactly what our friends at HSBC Philippines did. Just a few days before the Dragon galloped in, breathing enough fire to cast us all in the glow of warm wishes for great fortunes
in the year ahead, they threw a Chinese New Year gala at the Shangri-La the Fort, converting the grand ballroom into what felt like a busy, crowded alley in ancient China lined with food carts containing lucky edibles like mandarin
oranges and sticky sweets.

To the HSBC group, 2024 represents success, power, and wealth. A heart-pounding dragon dance led the revelers into the ballroom and signaled the beginning of the program. The host of the eveningwas celebrity impersonator Jon Santos, who handled the job with elan. He was at once funny with his triad of impersonations—Michelle Yes Yes Yo!, Si-Mulan, and Empress
Hong Shang from the Kong Hai dynasty—and also appropriately elegant for a crowd of finance experts, investment bankers, and top-tier HSBC clients.

“We continue to be optimistic of what the coming years have in store for our business, customers, employees, and community as we count down to our 150th anniversary in November 2025,” opened HSBC Philippines president
and CEO Sandeep Uppal.

“We look forward to the strengthened partnership in our stakeholders’ growth and expansion journey, bringing them exciting opportunities, not only in the Philippines, but across the globe.” The evening, titled “Sense and Sensibilities,” touched on all five senses, replete with a violinist playing a Chinese classic, an exhilarating sword exhibition and fan dance, and a prosperity-inspired four-
course meal crafted and curated by Shangri-La the Fort’s awesome kitchen duo, the executive chef Joris Rycken and the executive Chinese chef Wang Wei Qing.

But Gary Valenciano, just a few months shy of 60 years old, as he proudly announced to us, aware perhaps that, in this very evening, he looked barely half his age, was the most diligent in heeding the dragon’s command “Show me what you’ve got.”

With such confidence, which might have sounded like bravado if it didn’t pan out the way it did, the versatile performer, who has been a superstar since the 1980s, told the audience, addressing in particular the expats in the crowd, that while the banking circles would tend to be more behaved on such occasions, he was going to show them how Filipinos would typically respond to music, such as at concerts.

No sooner had he said this than everyone was up on their feet, swooning, screaming, singing along, and Moon-walk-ing, Electric Slide-ing, Running Man-ning to some of his hits, like the crowd favorite “‘Di Bale Na Lang,” which have earned him his place in pop culture as “Mr. Pure Energy.”

I think I—as well as the rest of the people at the party—will have a grand time in the Year of the Wood Dragon. And since the year is about showcasing skills, I’m going to hire a tutor to teach me how to dance like Gary V.